Long story short, I now have a horse with substantial rotation in one front foot due to a founder. It was a feed issue - we have done blood work and horse is not at all IR resistant, let alone Cushing’s.
He is currently in a reverse shoe with a pad and rotation has stopped. Horse is remarkably sound based on the rads - vet has suggested that regenerative therapy could be very useful. I have done a ton of research on it in the last week, but am looking for personal experiences with it. What did you do, how did your horse respond to it?
Specifically looking at stem cell and PRP. Anyone who has used PRP for this - I’m really interested in how it went.
I’m subbing as I have a horse with IR that foundered really bad in 2012, and maintaining hoof health has been an on-going battle since then. Especially now that he has a preponderance for WLD.
If you have removed the cause of the laminitis, I would think good farrier care would slowly resolve the rotation. It may be time for a trip to a vet school hospital for a vet opinion and a farrier opinion. Then, your farrier can follow the recommendations.
I was hoping that there might be something new on this. I have a mare that foundered from complications due to white line disease. This was over a decade ago and she still gets hauled to the vet to have her feet done ( 3 hour round trip). Finally her feet look pretty good. But because of the laminae in the front of her hoof dying her feet grow extremely slowly due to the lack of good circulation in her feet. Not to mention the poor hoof wall quality.
I was so hoping somebody could figure out a way to use stem cells to grow new laminae in the foot. My vet has not heard of this either but one can always hope :sadsmile:.
@SusanO There is actually quite a bit of research into stem cell with Laminitis, but most of the success is seen when the treatment is done in first 30/60/90 days. PRP is less commonly used, but there has been some research lately with PRP. There was a JEVS published study done last year.
My vet was quite familiar with both treatments for laminitis.
My hope is that since this is a new onset laminitis that regenerative therapy will help encourage tissue growth as I had some rotation but no sinking. The issue with my horse was a one off feed issue and not metabolic in nature, nor from white line disease.
I don’t want to see this thread morph off the original subject but I wanted to say if you haven’t tried liquid hoof packing that might be a viable option. My IR horse foundered 6-1/2 years ago to where I thought I would lose him; he re-foundered a few years later. I could write a book on everything I’ve tried on him, money spent, labor intensive hours on my part. Hoof care/rehab methods worked short term but never 100%
My latest farrier finally suggested EquiThane CS (copper sulfate) liquid hoof pack and the Natural Balance PLR Flat aluminum shoes to change the horse’s break over. I went with it. That was ten weeks ago – the horse just had his second reset. So far this venture has been like a Biblical Miracle for hooves. I’m still holding my breath on how long this miracle will last (he went flying across the gravel yesterday better than I’ve seen him do since well before his first founder). Even my non-horse husband recognizes the happiness and no stress in this horse’s eyes.
I have a couple of astounding/mind-boggling pictures after the farrier pulled the first EquiPack off — one hoof packing came off in tact and looks like a cadaver sole, sitting on the foot stool. I am happy to share if you care to PM me, but not on this thread – I’ve hi-jacked it quite enough:)
Liquid pack is not a cheap venture, the materials alone (including the shoes) are $124. My horse grows hoof quickly,even during the winter, so needs re-set every five weeks. The farrier charges me her standard $60 fee to re-set front shoes only even though she takes a couple hours to do complete the process. I tip her heavily because I don’t want to lose her.
